UBA Pensions Custodian pays about N3.5 billion monthly as retirement benefits to 25,000 retirees.
The Managing Director, Mr. Bayo Yusuf, disclosed this in an interview with journalists in Abuja on the sidelines of the just concluded World Pension Summit for Africa.
He said the amount was paid by his company on behalf of the 10 Pension Fund Administrators whose funds are currently being managed by the company.
According to him:”We are pension fund custodians and we have specific roles in the act. Number one is collection on behalf of PFAs. We are custodians to ten of the 27 PFAs and of this ten, we are on a monthly basis collecting the range of about N17 billion to N18 billion in terms of collection. We also settle transactions on behalf of PFAs and when we settle transactions, we collect the instruments representing that investment.”
He said:”We also collect the income accruing to all this investment and we also pay benefits to retirees and every month, for those that are on programmed withdrawals, We make payment on behalf of our PFA and that is in excess of 25,000 retirees that we pay on a monthly basis and we pay in excess of N3.5 billion.”
Speaking on the federal government projected $100 billion pension assets by 2035, Yusuf said the target is realiseable before the set date if the informal sector could be integrated into the industry.
He said:”In the informal sector, we have about 17.6 million employers having about 43 million employees. The pension industry has been growing at a rate of about 30 per cent without contributions from the informal sector. So imagine the type of growth we would record if this sector is brought into the industry.”
He said the UBA pensions had commenced the digitalisation of pension payments noting that the move would help streamline payment procedures as well as ensure prompt collection of pension benefits.
According to him:”The number of Retirement Savings Account is growing, right now we are just six million RSAs and we are talking of bringing the informal sector into it. So we are working with the banks in such a way that for the informal sector, with your phones, you can remit our pension contribution. You don’t need to go to the bank. What this means is that technology is going to be a major game changer in pension administration in the few months and years to come.”
